Great post. Now if only you put that up there a week ago... but i guess i can't complain. Thanks for all of the info and good luck to ya.

TRADE UPDATE

As I stated earlier, the trade deadline is not a real deadline at all. And case in point, I have been actively involved in a lot of trade negotiations since the deadline, specifically with the players that won waiver wire claims from all of my revocable waivers.

I just agreed to the first (and maybe only because no other negotiations are very close at the moment) deal - moving Kyle Rolls, a decent relief pitcher who is only 25 but will be arb eligible next season for a 19 year old Low A starting pitching prospect. The prospect's projected pitch ratings are all very average and his L/R splits are nothing great either at projected 60/50, but he projects to a mid-80s control, and very good durability and stamina. He may end up being a long reliever instead of a starter, but that assumes I find a way to build some pitching depth in my organization, which right now I simply do not have.

In other news -- the big league squad is in the midst of a terrible downward spiral and is beginning to threaten for a top 5 draft pick next season. We are only 3 games away from Game 120 though, so Les Nessman should be by sometime tomorrow with an update.

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IN-SEASON EVENT #4(A) - ROSTER EXPANSION

Roster Expansion is the chance to promote any minor leaguers that are on or that you add to your 40 man roster up to the majors (thus you can have up to 40 guys on your major league roster now). I actually categorize this as event 4(A) because it is very closely followed by the end of minor league regular season and the start of minor league playoffs. That will be 4(B) and subject of a post a couple days from now.

Event 4(A) actually has 2 components. Before Roster Expansion day you need to make certain that anyone that you might want on your major league playoff roster is on the 40. This includes any minor leaguers you may want to bring up for the playoffs (I run a 13 man pitching staff during the regular season, I often cut it down to 11 or 12 for the playoffs and add an extra bat or two for the bench). If they are not on your 40 before Roster Expansion, you cannot use them in the playoffs. You also want to make certain you have a couple extra players on your 40 in case you need to make a DL move in between playoff rounds and may need an extra arm or bat.

Once roster expansion hits, I first look at how my AAA team is doing in the standings. I do not want to break up that team if they have a shot at the AAA playoffs. I will then promote any inactive AAA players, as well as possibly one or two active guys, if either (1) they have been in the big leagues before (such as those 37 year old guys that you DFA'd and stuck on the inactive list) or (2) are a certainty to be on my big league team next year. On occassion I will bring up one or two others just to have an extra couple of players in order to give my regulars some rest if my last few games of the season are meaningless for playoff seeding (if I am a playoff team). I do not bring up any true stud prospects that I do not think will be ready for the bigs next season. If you bring a guy up, his base salary next year will be up to the major league minimums and you risk potential ratings decreases when you send him back down.

In Cincinnati, I did not worry about setting up my 40 for the playoffs, because there is no shot of me making it to the postseason. My AAA team stinks also, so I did not worry bout leaving guys down there to make a AAA playoff run. I did promote 6 or 7 guys. Most of them are veterans that I had DFA'd (Designated for Assignment) early in the season and had been sitting on the Inactive roster. I also brought up a couple of 27-28 year olds that had been in the bigs previously, including one guy that I had demoted early in the season due to the fact that he stunk. I also make certain that all pitch counts and depth charts are set appropriately, both for my AAA team (and activate extra guys to fill out its roster) and my revised ML squad.

Up next -- In-Season Event 4(B), Minor League season end/playoff start.

Im very glad you posted this csherwood because I have a question about roster expansion.

If you have a guy who has never been to the bigs before, and has all 3 minor league options , if you add him to the 40 during roster expansion does he lose an option year, and does his salary immediately increase?
(I think you might have answered the salary quesion in your main post but I just want to make sure.)

Thanks

The answer to both your questions is yes, div. However, your player will not move any closer to arbitration, necessarily.

The actual salary increase for this season is minimal because it is prorated, but no matter what level the guy is at, the guy will start next year at 343k (327k + 5% raise due to being on the 40). That is why I don't bring too many extra minor leaguers that are not making ML salary already or scheduled for the bigs next season up. I don't mind paying a few extra 55k salaries to fill out minor league rosters, but too many 327k+ salaries in the minor leagues does add up.

IN-SEASON EVENT #4(B) - END OF MINOR LEAGUE SEASON/START OF MINOR LEAGUE PLAYOFFS

Coming only two days (8-9 game cycles) after roster expansion, the minor league seasons come to an end. At AAA, AA, High A, and Low A, the seasons all end on an AM cycle game. That cycle is followed by two Placeholder Day cycles and one Off Day, after which the first round games begin on the PM cycle the day after the seasons end. At Rookie League level, the season ends on the PM2 cycle before the other 4 minor league levels. The next day's AM cycle (same cycle that all other minor league levels complete their seasons) is an Off Day, and the very next (PM) cycle is the first game. Therefore, you need to move pretty quickly to set up your Rookie League team for the playoffs if you qualify as a 3, 4, 5, or 6 seed.

Once minor league season ends, if my AAA team failed to make the playoffs, I may add another player or two from that team to my expanded big league roster. Normally this will only happen if I held off on making a promotion because I was in a fight for a playoff spot that I then lost out on. Similarly, if I kept a guy at AAA in order to keep that team together for the playoffs, and that team gets into the playoffs but gets eliminated from their playoffs before the major league season ends, I may make a promotion at that time.

For my AAA, AA, High A, and Low A teams that make the playoffs, I cut down to a 3 man starting rotation, moving my other 2 starters into long relief. I will also usually inactivate one or two long relievers and add an extra bat or two to the bench. I then edit pitcher settings, often increasing the Call Bullpen ratings. I am now trying to do whatever I can to win games with this roster and not trying to simply develop players. I also make certain to reset my player rest, defensive replacement, and pinch hitting heirarchies, and I turn off the use of Player Rest entirely in Manager Settings (last thing I want is to blow a big lead in the playoffs and have all my regulars on the bench, or be down by a bunch and not give myself that one outside shot at a huge comeback win). I will also reset my batting order and starting lineup to give myself the best shot at victories (I normally ignore my minor league batting order during regular season and just try to get key prospects playing time).

At Rookie League, because there is no Inactive Roster, I dont add any extra bats. I do however cut down from 4 tandem pairs of starting pitchers to 3, adding the two over guys to my bullpen. I do not necessarily keep pairs that pitched together during the season together here, but instead try to get my best 6 pitchers into my "3MT" starting rotation.

During minor league playoffs, you can make active/inactive moves, promotions, demotions, and DL moves between any games, not just between rounds like in the big leagues. I normally don't make any moves at all unless I suffer an injury. Unless it is to take an inactive Low A guy that is not a prospect down to Rookie to fill a roster spot due to injury, I never demote for the purpose of the playoffs. I will only very rarely promote a prospect for the playoffs, and only then if the lower level team he is on did not qualify for their own playoffs and if the guy fills a huge glaring hole in the level I am promoting him to. In Season 3 in NABCL, I had 2 catchers on my 6th seeded Low A team, both of whom hit about .160 for the season. I had a stud draft pick catcher at Rookie, and that did had not qualified for the playoffs. I brought the catcher up to Low A, and watched my Low A team knock off the top 4 overall records in Low A en route to the championship. It wasn't all the catcher's doing, but he definitely helped.

I do make certain during minor league playoffs to keep an eye on starting pitcher fatigue. With only a 3 man rotation, on occasion you will find a need to use a 4th starter if you get involved in multiple long series. If my next starter wont be 100% for his next game, I choose one of the starters that I turned into long relievers and bring him back to the rotation for one game.

In Cincinnati, my only team to qualify for the playoffs is my Rookie Leaguers, and they blew a division lead late in the season and ended up as 6th seed. Playoffs should start tomorrow PM cycle. All other teams play their final game tomorrow AM cycle.

Up next -- Les Nessman will be by in a couple days with the 150 game update and a final recap of the minor league seasons (though hopefully not completely final yet for my Rookie League team). Also, there will be a Trade Update on a deal just completed. Our next In-Season Event will be the completion of the Regular Season/Start of Major League Playoffs.

TRADE UPDATE

In likely my last trade of the season, I have finally found a taker for closer Daniel Truman. I believed Truman to have very good trade value at the start of the season and it had been my intent all year to move him. However, despite some talks, and despite Truman putting up great numbers for my team, nothing ever got serious until now. I tried to pass him through revocable waivers after the trade deadline, but he was claimed. After some lengthy talks with the team that claimed him, I finally moved him in exchange for a AAA catcher. The catcher has an excellent looking bat and is a very solid pitch caller, projecting to 72. His throwing arm isn't that great yet, but it should improve. His only drawback is a low durability which means he will play no more than 2/3 of the games in a season so I will need a second very good catcher to sub in and out with him. He is only 20 years old, and while he may be able to play in the bigs next season, I intend to hold him back one more year at AAA and bring him up in Season 6 ( I guess my Four Horsemen I was prepping for Season 6 are now the Fab Five).

150 GAME UPDATE: 57-93

WKRP's Les Nessman reporting:

With only a dozen games in the season, the 'traps are 57-93 and the only issue to be decided is whether or not the team can avoid a 100 loss season. The second half of the season had been downright awful for this team. The only position player with respectable numbers is DH Derrin Wilkinson who is batting .322 with 20 HR and 67 RBI. On the pitching side, only reliever Carlos Martin, who took over closing duties after Truman was traded, has a 3.93 ERA to go along with a 3-1 record and 1 save.

Today's Spotlight on the Future is in fact a special report wrapping up (for the most part) the entire minor league season:

AAA: The 'traps finished 59-85 in last place. Roosevelt Abbott was one of few bright spots hitting .329 and knocking in 88 runs. Pitcher Sven Gordon went 10-10 with a 3.72 ERA.

AA: The 'traps finished 58-86, in third place. Marshall Ferrell, Virgil Rodriguez and Parket Bennett all had outstanding years as highlighted previously. Pitcher Flip Bagley led the team with 11 wins.

High A: The 'traps also finished 58-86, in last place. Bryant Monroe led the team offensively hitting .333 with 23 HR and 87 RBI. Hal Walker went 4-0 with a 2.28 ERA out of the bullpen.

Low A: The 'traps finished 63-81, in last place. Domingo Cruz was an offensive monster hitting .356 with 32 HR and 116 RBIs. The pitching however was downright dreadful.

Rookie: The 'traps finished 49-27 in second place and earned the #6 playoff seed. They won their first round series and are currently tied at 1 game each in the Best of 5 divisional round. Offensively the team was led by Alan Sadler who hit .340 with 34 HR and 101 RBI. The pitching staff was led by Julio Nartin who was almost untouchable, posting an 11-1 record with a 1.24 ERA. He also picked up 3 saves pitching on the tail end of a tandem.

In summation, it was a very forgettable year for the majority of Cincinnati's minor league system. A few bright young prospects at AAA and AA are the near future of this team, while the success of the Rookie Leaguers show that the team is beginning the long process of rebuilding a severely depleted minor league system.

Our possible final update of the season will come after Game 162. It will include an update on the playoff performance of the Rookie League team, and if things go well, that team may still be playing. Also, management will be by with one or two more releases as the season winds to an end and preparations for the offseason begin.

DEALING WITH HBD UPDATES

With today's announcement of a ton of updates, including the new "10 day rule" for assigning players to teams and the Rule 5 Draft, I think it is a good time to repeat a huge piece of advice regarding dealing with updates to the game:

Read the update.
Then read it again.
Then go try out everything that is announced that you are not 100% certain about how it works.
Then read the update one more time to make certain you now understand everything.
If something still doesn't make sense, ask in the forums or send in a ticket.

If you want to be successful in this game, you absolutely have to know how everything works.

I have already read the announcement today twice. After the changes go in on July 2, I will read it again and then go take a look at everything. I will probably read it one more time after that. I want to make absolutely certain that I know exactly how the changes work and how they will help me manage my team. I also want to be certain I know everything about the Rule 5 draft, both what it is about and how the UI end of it works. There will be new screens to investigate and as soon as I can I will go through all of them and learn what each one's purpose is. It simply is not possible, in my opinion, to have any continued success in this game without knowing exactly what everything does and how to do everything I want to do.